Page 13 - 2021 Queens Economic Development Guide

1932
Riker’s Island houses a prison to replace the one on Roosevelt Island (Blackwell Island).
1942
Jazz musician Louis Armstrong moves to Corona. He lived in what is now known as the Louis Armstrong House Museum until his passing in 1971.
1955
St. Johns University opens in Queens on the old Hillcrest Golf Course.
1959
The New York Racing Association reopens Aqueduct Racetrack.
1961
The Throgs Neck Bridge officially opens.
1962
The New York Mets baseball franchise is established.
1964
The 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing opens.
1966
The Queens Borough Public Library opens in Jamaica.
1969
The New York Mets win the World Series.
1973
The Queens Museum of Art opens in the former United Nations General Assembly building located on the old World’s Fair property.
1976
P.S. 1 in Long Island City opens to the public as a Contemporary Art Museum.
1978
The US Open Tennis Championship gets relocated from Forest Hills to the Louis Armstrong Stadium at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
1986
The New York Mets win their 2nd World Series.
1988
The Museum of the Moving Image is established in Astoria.
1992
The U.S Department of Census declares Queens to be the most ethnically diverse county in the United States of America.
21st Century
2000
The U.S. Census updates Queens’ population count to more than 2 million residents.
2009
CitiField, a new stadium taking the place of Shea Stadium, becomes the home of the New York Mets.
2016
Mayra DiRico, a native of Cuba, becomes the first foreign-born President of the Queens Chamber.
2017
Thomas Grech becomes the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Queens Chamber after joining the Chamber in 2015 as Executive Director.
Sources: Queens Chamber of Commerce, Queens Historical Society
www.queenschamber.org 11